THE INK is guided by the principles of factual, balanced, fair and objective reporting.

Thursday, 14 May 2015

Students disturbances looms in UNIUYO

BY VICTOR UFOT

Except urgent actions are taken by the management of University of Uyo, the state government and federal government, the relative harmony that is being enjoyed currently in the University of Uyo may become history due to what students have described as unnecessary delay in the conduct of elections into the Students Union Government (SUG) of the institution.

The management of the University had last month suspended SUG elections in the institution, THE INK gathered that the suspension of the election was due to the disqualification of one Bassey Bassey from the faculty of Engineering, his disqualification sparked peaceful protests by the students of the faculty who were furious that their only candidate was disqualified for no just reason, it was learnt the Vice Chancellor of the institution Prof. Comfort Ekpo was allegedly blocked from gaining entrance into the Main Campus of the University at Nsukkara Uffot.

Speaking to our reporter, students of the institution relate their minds on the current situation.

First to comment on the issue, a student from the faculty of Social Science who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the delay was a premeditated attempt by the management to deny the students their right of having someone to speak for them and also to negotiate on their behalf.

“I am so surprise that we have not had elections till today, the management is working very hard to make sure that they kill students’ unionism in this school but they won’t succeed, they have denied us the opportunity to elect our representatives” The peeved student said.

In another reaction, a Student from the department of Electrical Electronics, Faculty of Engineering said the action of the school management was a direct attempt to bring the school to a standstill again by the management and other parties involved in the delayed election.

Paul Udom, queried the justification behind the continuous recognition of student Union Government President comrade Ndianabasi Ekong who has since graduated and was no longer a student. He described the situation as a deliberated injustice on the side of the management.

Amaka Eze, pleaded with the management to proffer a quick solution to the issue to avoid troubles that should had been easily been avoided. She further added that the management is deliberately delaying the elections, since they know that exams will soon commence by next month.

It will be recalled that University of Uyo on June 12, 2013 witnessed a major students disturbances which resulted in the closure of the institution for some months.